Hello! Thanks for the reviews, follows, and kind words. I really do appreciate all of you =) Anyway, I think people are either going to love or hate this chapter because once again, I wanted to switch things up.

"Alex, you don't want to do this."

"I kinda do, Sven."

"There's got to be some mistake. Why don't you start from the beginning? Why do you want to hurt him?"

It was a shame that she would never share Sven's views of what was right and wrong. The guy she had pinned to the knife pressed against his throat was proof of that. Sven could plead his case until he was blue in the face, but there was no going back. She didn't care who this Woodney fellow was or how well Sven knew him. He was going to die for what he did. He had to.

6 a.m.

Alex couldn't remember the last time she had the luxury to jog. Sure she ran on a regular basis, but it wasn't the same. Running required her to have a specific place to be and a specific time to get there. Jogging, on the other hand, was far more relaxing and gave her time to just clear her head which she desperately needed. What better place than the little town they were hiding out in? It was close enough to the major city to go at any time, but far enough away to provide a decent cover. Unfortunately, the morning air was not helping her to block the Professor's threat it from her mind. No matter how far she went, his words kept replaying in her head. She was a naturally guarded person, but he sent her into a whole new level of unease. Every sudden noise or unidentified shadow had her ready to grab Robin and bolt. It was ironic really. She told Sven and Eve not to stress over the Professor, but she was doing exactly that. She had to get him out of her head.

She came to a slow stop and took several deep breaths as she checked the time. She had been gone for nearly an hour, and she was no calmer than when she started. In fact, she may have done more harm than good. A lot could have happened, specifically to Robin, in an hour. She...trusted Sven, Eve, and even Rinslet. What she didn't trust was the rest of the world. What if the Professor had been waiting on a moment like this? Did she fall into his trap? Alex had just turned to head back in the direction of the safe house when a muffled scream caught her attention. It was so faint, she thought she imagined it, but then she heard the noise again. She withdrew her gun and quietly began creeping forward in the general direction of the noise until she heard the very audible sound of a slap from an alleyway. She had assumed based on the two days that they had been around that the town was relatively peaceful, but apparently looks were deceiving.

When she rounded the corner, a large, bearded man wearing a black jacket and red shirt glanced up and immediately let go of the petite, blonde woman he had pinned to the wall and took off running. Alex fired three quit rounds at him, but he managed to dodge each one. For such a big guy, he was surprisingly mobile. She wanted to go after him, but Sven must have been rubbing off on her because helping her seemed to be a bigger priority. Without the man holding her, the woman had slid down against the wall, and Alex replaced her gun and knelt down beside her. Her eye had already begun to swell and blood dripped from her nose. "Hey. You ok?"

It was a stupid question considering the lady appeared to be on the verge of hyperventilating. "He's gone. He's not going to hurt you." She continued as she tried to think of anything comforting she could say. She was horrible with situations like this. It would have been so much easier to just go after the man. "Alright. Just stay here. I'm going to go get you some help." Alex tried to stand, but the lady suddenly reached out and grabbed her shirt.

"No! Please don't go! He might come back!"

Seeing as she wasn't heartless enough shove the woman off, Alex sat back down and let her cry into her chest.

9 am

"I was...on my way to work. I work at a bakery, so I get there kinda early to make sure we have enough bread to make it through the morning rush. I heard someone following me, but I just thought it was the mail man. He-He grabbed me from behind and pulled me into the alley. I tried to scream but he covered by mouth with his hand. I bite him, and that's when he hit me, and told me if I made another sound he'd kill me."

"And you said this guy was large with a goatee?"

Alex lolled her head back and mentally counted to ten. This was why she hated the police. Crystal (as she learned) had gone through her story at least five times, but the officer kept asking the same question. Hell, he even took three hours to arrive! That guy was probably long gone by now. "Aren't you supposed to have one of those sketchers here?" She finally asked.

"Our policy is not to involve the composite artist until we're sure there's probable cause."

"Look at her face! That's not probable cause?"

"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to calm down until I get your statement."

"Screw you and screw your statement." Alex retorted as she stood and stormed out of the room. Talking to the police wouldn't help. She didn't have anything extra to add. It would only draw more attention to her. Hell, she didn't even know why she was still hanging around. Once she had gotten Crystal to the hospital, she thought for sure her Good Samaritan duties would be over, but Crystal once again begged her to stay. She claimed she didn't have any family or friends she could call because her job kept her so busy. Alex could sympathize with that. It truly did suck to need help but have no one to go to which was why she spent the next thirty minutes pacing up and down the hallways until Crystal and the officer emerged. She watched them shake hands and based on the way Crystal's eyes stayed locked on the floor as she walked over, the officer was not going to be of any help.

"What do I do now?"

Castrating the bastard seemed like a good idea, but she had promised to do things in a less lethal way. Too bad she hadn't mastered that skill yet. "I wish I knew..."

2pm

"Alex, Are you sure you can't stay for one more movie?"

Alex shook her head as she stood from the couch. The five "chick" flicks she had to sit through were enough to last her for a lifetime. Besides, she really needed to check on Robin. Of course she had been calling off and on but there was nothing like a face to face conversation. "I wish I could but, I have people waiting on me. Just hang around here for a few days. You have my number. You can call me anytime. If I'm still in town, I'll even walk you to work." And she meant that. When she joined the organization, it was to protect people like Crystal. She killed for them without missing a beat, but not once had she actually had the chance to interact with them. The Professor had shown her interviews on television and pictures of the victims, but it was nothing in comparison to actually sitting down with them and seeing their fear first hand. Was this what the Professor saw the first time they met?

"You're a good person, Alex. Thank you."

8 pm

"Finished that book, kid?"

"Yep. Are you going to get me another one?"

"Maybe." She didn't want to make any promises considering their financial situation was far from stable. "I think I'll get you a chapter book, next time."

"I think it's time we started talking about getting her in a real school." Sven commented before he inhaled from his cigarette and blew the smoke out of the open window.

"With other kids?!" Robin's enthusiasm was enough to draw her attention away from the talk show on the television. She had no idea Robin actually wanted to be in school.

"I think you're looking too far into the future. Let's focus on finding a permanent place for you first."

She was saved from dealing with Robin's disappointment by the ringing of her phone. Sven must have thought it was the Professor because he quickly put out his cigarette and joined her on the couch, but the number wasn't blocked like he would have done. "Hello?"

"Good evening. This is the Cary Police Department. A body was discovered a few hours ago, and this number was listed in the phone as an emergency contact. We just need you to stop by and-." Alex ended the call, and her grip tightened on the phone. She didn't want to hear anymore.

"What's wrong? Who was that?" Sven asked as he reached out to take the phone, but Alex smacked his hand away and stood up.

"I'll be back. I...I gotta handle something. Don't follow me."

9 pm.

When the mortician opened the body bag, Alex had to turn away. Without a doubt, it was Crystal.

"From what I can tell, there are multiple stab wounds and evidence of-"

"All I need to know is that she's dead. Her name was Crystal. I can't tell you anything else." The mortician didn't need to know that it was ultimately Alex's fault that it happened. She should have stayed with Crystal. No. She should have gone after that bastard from the beginning.

10 pm.

When she walked back into the safe house, Alex truly knew what it meant to be emotionally drained. For the first time in ages, she just wanted to sleep and forget about everything for a few hours. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen because she was immediately greeted with laughter from an unfamiliar voice. It must have been that Train person Sven mentioned earlier.

"Alex! Is that you? Come in the kitchen for a minute. There's someone I want you to meet."

She exhaled slowly and tried her hardest to put on her usual indifferent face, but she couldn't hold it in. In the kitchen, giving Robin a piggy back, was him. That murderer was touching Robin.

"Alex, this is Woodney. He's our informant."

"Nice to meet-"

"Put her down."

Sven's smile faltered at her tone, but he recovered quickly enough. "Might want to do what she says. She's funny about that kid. Did you get everything taken care of?"

"Yeah..." She muttered but her attention was completely on Woodney until Robin was safely on the ground. "Go in Sven's room. Put on your headphones. No matter what, don't you dare come out here."

"Sorry. I didn't think having a little fun with her was such a big problem..."

How could he stand there so nonchalantly knowing what he did? It was hard, but she brushed past him to grab one of Sven's butcher's knives. "Robin. You're not moving fast enough." Yep. It would do the job quite nicely.

"What are you doing with the knife, Alex? You've been acting strange all day." Sven questioned as he took a step towards her.

"Have I? It's been a long day, but it's about to get better if Robin would get a move on. I said get upstairs!" She finally shouted, but instead of listening, Robin moved behind Sven.

"Woodney, run!" Sven yelled, and Woodney took off running and it was pure luck that he managed to turn the corner before the knife lodged itself in the wall.

Sven yelled something after her, but her focus was only on catching Woodney. Adrenaline allowed her to snatch the knife from the wall without missing a step. Maybe it was her imagination, but he seemed so much more slower than he was this morning. What occurred could barely be called a chase. In mere seconds, she managed to jump on his back and jam the knife through his shoulder which sent him crashing to the ground.

"So tell me, Woodney. Did you hold her down like this when you stabbed her the first time?" She whispered in his before she stood up and used her foot to roll him on his back.

"I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't stab anyone! I couldn't!"

"Don't lie to me. I saw you, and I should have killed you then." She hissed as she straddled him and dragged her knife down his chest. "It sucks for you because now you're going to die slowly. Just like Crystal did."

"I don't know who that is!"

"Shut up!" She pressed the blade down just enough to draw blood. "Unless you're begging god for forgiveness, you have nothing left to say."

"Alex, you don't want to do this." Sven spoke softly when he arrived, probably in an attempt to calm her down, but his efforts were wasted. She had to do this.

"I kinda do." She was going to do this.

"There's got to be some mistake. Why don't you start from the beginning? Why do you want to hurt him?"

"He killed her. He killed Crystal."

"Who's that?"

"She's...She could have been a friend if I wasn't me."

"And what if you're wrong? What if it wasn't Woodney?" He asked. She could hear him getting closer and moved the blade to Woodney's neck.

"I saw him."

"Alex, I swear he couldn't hurt anyone. There has to be some mistake."

"I know what I saw."

"Fine. Maybe it was him, but think about Robin. How are you going to face her if you kill him? You promised all of us that you wouldn't kill again."

She couldn't face Robin if she didn't do it. "Some promises were made to be broken." Despite her words, her hand shook, and she couldn't stop it.

"Please don't break that one. If you do it, the Professor wins. You're just going to prove that you can never escape him. Is that what you want?"

What she wanted was Crystal to be alive. "Yes." She raised the blade and as she brought it down, a single shot rang out and the knife was knocked from her hand. No way...No one had accuracy that was that good.

"Don't move. I can't promise my next shot will miss you especially since you're threatening my friend."

Off to her right emerged a young man with a doughnut covered blue jacket. More importantly, he had XIII tattooed on his chest. Alex may not have been a political expert, but even she knew what that symbol meant. She smirked as her hand began to move to her side. Just when she thought her day couldn't get worst. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I have enough bad luck in my life, Black Cat."